Kotsovos thankful for chance to coach Detroit Resilience

The CEO of Global Performance Academy, a sports-themed nonprofit school, Kotsovos knows how much worse life could be.

If he needed a reminder, he could always ask his new group of friends.

Kotsovos is the head coach of the Detroit Resilience, the first-ever Detroit-based soccer team that will make an attempt to play in the Homeless World Cup.

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“Me working with them the last three or four months has really made me appreciate what I have in life,” Kotsovos said of his team. “They keep me focused. I consider them friends. They have done a lot for me. They think I have helped them, but they have really helped me a great deal.

“They have taught me to appreciate life more and appreciate what I have. I have my health and I had a fortunate upbringing. You have a bad day or something small happens that gets you upset or frustrated, but then you look at these players and they are on top of the world because they know what struggling is really about. It keeps thing in perspectives.”

A former soccer player at Brock University in St. Catharines, Ontario and a current soccer coach at Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood, Kotsovos was intrigued when he learned about the Homeless World Cup through Street Soccer USA, a two-day event in New York that takes place in Times Square and is being held this weekend.

“We approached Quicken Loans, Rock Ventures and a couple other corporations back in late January, early February. I approached them with the Street Soccer USA games in New York City and how it tied into Homeless World Cup. They were really intrigued and they wanted to know if we worked with an organization to help make this happen. At the time, we did not.”

That is where the Neighborhood Service Organization (NSO) came into play.

“I was introduced to the NSO. I got in contact with the NSO in early April, had a meeting with Sheila (P. Clay), the CEO, and we hit it off really well and from there we went,” Kotsovos said.

The nine-member Resilience team is comprised of eight men and one woman, all of whom have experienced homelessness at some point in their lives for one reason or another.

Now, all live in the NSO’s Bell Building in Detroit. The building features 155 furnished apartments for formerly homeless adults.

“The participants all come from the NSO. They are former homeless people that have transitioned into apartment-style living. There are rules and qualifications to being part of the NSO. They put out a call asking anyone that wanted to participate (with the soccer team) and we got quite a few that came out. We have a group of nine and they kept showing up. Only one had played soccer before,” Kotsovos said.

Despite the inexperience, Kotsovos was eager to help and the players were eager to learn and be part of a team.

“I went in with the attitude that it wasn’t so much about teaching them how to play soccer. While we taught them the basic skills of trapping, passing and shooting, it was more about positive thinking and getting them involved and let them get engaged and feel better about themselves,” Kotsovos said. “It was about letting them feel part of society and making a positive impact on them.”

Thanks to the help of a $20,000 contribution to the team by DTE Energy and Rock Ventures, a company owned by Dan Gilbert, the Detroit Resilience was given the ability to travel to New York this weekend for regional USA Cup play.

The Resilience will play in 5-on-5 soccer matches in Times Square. Should they win the regional competition, they would move on to San Francisco on Aug. 15-17 to compete for a chance to play in the Homeless World Cup in Santiago, Chile in October.

“We might not have soccer players, but we have some pretty good athletes. We have former football players and basketball players. They can play. They want to win. They don’t want to just go there and get blown out,” Kotsovos said. “They have a competitive chip going in. I am competitive. Even though we have a different perspective, I know when the game starts, I am going to be coaching to win.”

The team name of the Detroit Resilience is an homage to the city and was selected by the team as part of the “I Play For” campaign.

“I Play For is comprised of 20 cities across the United States and they all play for a slogan or perspective. We are the 21st city, the first to come from Detroit. We called ourselves the Resilience, because we are a resilient city.”

Regardless of the outcome in New York, Kotsovos knows his team will represent the city of Detroit well.

“I am really happy for them. Some have never been to New York. This is a great experience for them. I just want the team and myself to represent Detroit in a positive way. Maybe not in terms of wins and losses, but how we conduct ourselves and how we play and work hard,” he said.

Kotsovos also wants this to be the first of many appearances for the Resilience in the Homeless World Cup process.

“A long term goal is to bring a regional here. A pipe dream is to bring a Homeless World Cup here to Detroit as well. You never know,” he said. “I hope that every year, we aren’t one of those groups that is forgotten. We want this to grow every year and give an opportunity to these people, who are working hard to bring balance to their lives. It makes a difference to them and it is something really positive that is happening in our area.”